The Democrat Party won a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives in midterm elections yesterday, putting John Dingell of Michigan and Ed Markey back on top in the communications legislating business.

After the new Congress convenes next year, Dingell will resume the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Markey will move up to lead the committee's key telecommunications subcommittee. They lost the positions 12 years ago when the Republicans won control of the House.

Out as chairman of the committee and subcommittee will be Joe Barton and Fred Upton, respectively.

And depending on the outcome of a close Senate race in Virginia, the Democrats might also take control of the Senate. That would mean Democrat Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) replacing Ted Stevens (Alaska) as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, but the two have worked closely together.

In Virginia, Republican incumbent George Allen is trying to fight off Democrat Jim Webb. Broadcasters may be happy to see Allen go. As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, he championed legislation that would have opened up broadcast spectrum—"white spaces"—for unlicensed wireless computer devices. The NAB strongly opposed the measure.

Conrad Burns, a former broadcaster and staunch industry ally on the Senate Commerce Committee, lost his seat to Democratic challenger Jon Tester.

Other Senate Commerce Committee incumbents easily won re-election, including Republicans Trent Lott (Miss.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas), Olympia Snowe (Maine), John Ensign (Nev.) and Democrats Bill Nelson (Fla.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.).

By 5 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, Democrats had won 228 seats, enough for control, and were leading for another four, which would give them 232. Republicans, who hold 229 seats in the current House, won 192 and were leading in another 11, which would give them 203.

Democrats had captured 27 Republican-controlled seats, and no Democratic incumbent had lost thus far. Races were too close to call in more than a dozen seats, making it impossible to determine exactly how large the Democratic margin would be.

Still, 2006 already was a reversal of 1994, when the GOP gained 54 seats in a wave that toppled Democrats after four decades. No Republican incumbent lost that year.

"From sea to shining sea, the American people voted for change,'' declared Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the hard-charging California Democrat in line to become the nation's first female House speaker.

''Today we have made history,'' she said, ''now let us make progress.''

For TV broadcasters, Dingell-Markey would have its pluses. It could pave the way for a smoother DTV transition (more money for DTV converter boxes) and possibly lead to some type of multicast must-carry protection.

"Barton and Barton's staff were aggressively anti-multicast," said NAB President David Rehr. "I think in a nutshell, Mr. Dingell would be more open than Mr. Barton has been."

However, broadcasters know from experience that regulatory-minded House Democrats would also want some type of enhanced public interest obligations as part of any multi-cast deal or for any other favors they do for broadcasters.

Alan Frank, CEO of Post-Newsweek Stations and chairman of the NAB television board, is a Dingell constituent in Detroit and is looking forward to his restoration.

"It is clear that if you are a good broadcaster, if you understand and take seriously your special responsibilities and obligations, which we do, then operating under John Dingell and Ed Markey [as chairman of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee] is a very positive experience."

Under Markey, broadcasters can expect more hearings. "Markey loves to do hearings," says one source who also anticipates a far greater emphasis on oversight of the FCC.

 Dingell is especially well-known for his oversight powers and desire to keep a tight rein over commission activity.

There's also conjecture that Markey's subcommittee might tackle some of the issues arising form the retransmission consent debate.

"Markey tends to be with broadcasters on some issues and maybe not with broadcasters on other issues. He's an extremely smart man and quick thinker. In order to earn his support we will have to make the academic case to him," says NAB's Rehr.

Many lobbyists believe that the return of Dingell-Markey would derail or at least slow the FCC's current effort to relax its ownership rules to permit small-market TV duopolies and crossownership of broadcast stations and newspapers in a market.

"It's possible the Democrats could put in legislation that would keep the FCC from doing anything new or add some procedural thing or requirement  that they do an NOI [notice of inquiry] before an NPRM [notice of proposed rulemaking]," says Blair Levin, managing director at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

But all is not lost, says Levin. "I don't think there would be a sufficient number of votes to prevent some opening up [of newspaper-broadcast crossownership]."

Others disagree. "Media ownership is dead under a Democratic regime," says one Hill insider.

How much time Dingell and Markey would devote to broadcasting matters is unclear. A fight over network neutrality could dominate much of the Commerce Committee debate next year.

Major Web content companies are expected to push for so-called net neutrality legislation that would bar telecommunications companies from discriminating among Web providers in pricing and service. Dingell and Markey back the net-neutrality concept.

It should be noted that Markey is also in line to potentially chair the House Resources Committee, which handles energy issues, but most insiders think he'll stick with telecommunications.

The Democratic takeover will certainly empower the FCC's two Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, two vigorous opponents of media consolidation and champion of public interest obligations.

With Dingell and Markey at their backs, they may be even less willing to go along with Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

"It's very clear to me that Adelstein and Copps are doing everything they can to gum everything up until 2008 and hope for a Democratic [FCC] majority so they can resurrect a 1950's regulatory approach to everything," says Tribune Broadcasting lobbyist Shaun Sheehan.

If the Democrats win the Senate and Inouye wins back the Commerce Committee, some expect that he will resurrect the Communications Subcommittee and give it to either Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.) or Byron Dorgan (N.D.). If Dorgan gets the nod, broadcasters should expect him to be even more aggressive and effective in his opposition to loosening the ownership rules.

Overall, Inouye, like Dingell, will likely be sympathetic to TV broadcasters' efforts to gain multicast must carry, lobbyists say. TV broadcasters should be able to work with him.

The Democratic takeover is also good news for the copyright holders, including the big media companies, who want to tighten copyright controls on the Internet.

California Democrat Howard Berman, whose district includes North Hollywood, would chair the Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Berman is a strong defender of copyright interests.

"I think that copyright is going to be a huge issue and nobody wants to touch it because it's so controversial but they're going to have to touch it," says one industry lobbyist.

"Hollywood, I think, will have a bigger say in a Democratic House and perhaps in a Democratic Senate," says Rehr.